Courtroom Procedure
PRESENTED by His Most Excellent Majesty, King John I; Upon this day, The twenty-eighth of February, the year of Our Lord MMXV; A ROYAL DECREE; R.D. 179; THE COURT OF HIS MAJESTY, THE SOVEREIGN WHEREAS, THERE has been no doctrine for court procedures in Loquntia, it has become necessary to define all that which carried out in court. THEREFORE, BE IT ENACTED by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Lords Appointed, and by the Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:— ARTICLE I. THE COURT OF HIS MAJESTY, THE SOVEREIGN. SECTION 1. COURT SOVEREIGNTY. (1) The Court of His Majesty, the Sovereign shall be presided over by H.R.H. King John I, Fount of Honour, Prince of Norling, L.R.&.Esq. (2) The jurisdiction of the Court of His Majesty, the Sovereign includes but is not limited to: (A) — (i) Cases in which one party would be entitled to or denied compensatory or punitive damages where the plaintiff or defendant is: (a) A Loquntian citizen or subject; (b) A member of the Loquntian military; or © A member of a protectorate state or organization of, in, or bearing allegiance to Loquntia, or its King; (ii) Cases in which two or more parties lay claim to, or are seen as wrongfully being the custodian of funds, property, or earth belonging to His Majesty the King, His Crown, the Republic of the Kingdom of Loquntia, or an officer thereof. (B) Cases in which one party is convicted of a crime which has been committed in Loquntia or a protectorate state, military campus, or especial territorial space thereof allegiant or besieged; © Cases in which a person petitions to be married to another and they both wilfully and solemnly wish to married; (D) Cases in which, due to an error, infidelity, or shortcoming on behalf of His Majesty the King, His Crown, the Republic of the Kingdom of Loquntia, or an officer thereof, one petitions that they have been done wrongly or have been subject to considerable casualty or loss; (E) Situations in which a party would like to create legal evidence of their agreement to a document representing definite facts; (F) Cases which have been litigated, arbitrated, or rejected by minour Loquntian courts and they have not been resolved; (G) Cases which the Court of His Majesty, the Sovereign has commanded by delivered before it by writ of certiorari or writ of error; or (H) Cases in which a party is convicted of a crime which has been wilfully and knowlingly committed against the Crown or the Nation as a whole. (3) When and to the degree the court reasonably believes that a party that is member to a criminal case will attempt to flea or injure themselves, another party, or any third person, they may be forcibly incarcerated until the first case hearing, after which they must be present. (4) If and to the degree it is required in the Court of His Majesty, the Sovereign the services of a witness, custodian, juror, or other person, the Sovereign shall issue a summons stating clearly the matter about which they must arrive and the place, date, and time at which they are commanded by law to attend. (A) Such summons may be served by exhibiting and reading it to the witness, by giving them a copy thereof, or by leaving such a copy at his last and usual place of abode. (B) No person shall be required to attend as a witness in a civil or criminal case except a person summoned to attend as a witness for an indigent defendant in a criminal case, unless the legal fees for one day's attendance and for travel to and from the place he is required to attend are paid or tendered to him. © If and to the degree a person who has been duly summoned and required to attend as a witness or defendant under this subsection. fails, without sufficient excuse identified by the court not permitting their appearance, they shall be liable to the aggrieved party in tort for all damages caused by such failure, unless they be a defendant, then they shall be held in contempt of court. (D) Failure to attend as a witness or defendant before a court shall also be penalised as contempt of court and may be punished, in such a case of failure to attend in a criminal prosecution or litigation, by a fine not exceeding the price of three troy ounces of silver or by imprisonment for not more than one month or both or, in case any other such failure to attend as aforesaid, by a fine of not more than the price of one troy ounce of silver. (5) Any wilful disobedience or interference with any order of The Court of His Majesty, the Sovereign committed to effect the hindrance of the court’s proceedings constitutes contempt of court for which they shall be punished by incarceration not to exceed thirty days and a fine not to exceed one thousand Loquntian Krone. (6) All cases which are not criminal do not require the defendant in the case to be present or represented in any way. (7) Before a case can be scheduled the court must enquire with each party whether or not they have an advocating solicitor, whether or not they request one, and whether or not they would like to speak with a barrister, except in civil cases in which the amount in question does not exceed three hundred Loquntian Krone. (8) The court may incur a fee on any plaintiff to file a case. (9) When a party is represented or advised by an attorney, advocate, or solicitor, they shall not have a fee incurred upon them by said attorney if they lose a case if the attorney is not a recognised barrister of Loquntia or any other court-recognised bar. SECT. 2. SCHEDULE. (1) The Court of His Majesty, the Sovereign shall not sit on Sunday; the custodian of records pertaining to the court may remain in service if necessary. (2) Hearings may be scheduled by the court at any time in the day after eight hundred hours in the morning and eighteen hundred thirty hours in the evening, except on Friday and Saturday, when they must be adjourned before sixteen hundred thirty hours in the evening. (3) After a case has been opened by or with, or has been delivered to the court, there shall not pass one month before the first hearing of that case begins, and after the first hearing of a case, there shall not pass more than one week without another hearing being scheduled. (4) The schedule involved in a case shall be kept with its record. SECT. 3. RECORDS. (1) All documents in each case shall have been retained by the court for a period which does not necessarily exceed one year. (2) Upon reciept of a sworn affidavit from a person requesting documents from the court, when it is known that they do not request the documents with malicious intent, they may be granted copies or a period of time to view the documents unless they are filed under seal. (3) All documents which are "filed under seal" are documents which the court cannot disclose to anyone except the petitioner of the sealing and any persons that have been granted permission in the order or on the affidavit, except after fifteen years have passed since the filing of the petition. (4) When one or more parties files a motion to "seal documents", the court may order that specific documents in the case be filed under seal. (5) No document which indicates a motion to have documents sealed may be filed under seal. (6) Documents which have been filed under seal by the court in turn do not exist and may, under oath, be denied respect to or affirmation of their existence without threat of perjury. SECT. 4. AFFIRMATIONS. (1) All affidavits issued by or to the Court shall have inscribed: (A) "I, the undersigned party hereby do wilfully and solemnly swear by Allah, that I do to the best of my knowledge and abilities affirm that the following statement(s) are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."; (B) "I, the undersigned party hereby do wilfully and solemnly swear under threat of perjury, that I do to the best of my knowledge and abilities affirm that the following statement(s) are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."; or © "I, the undersigned party hereby do wilfully and solemnly swear so help me God, that I do to the best of my knowledge and abilities affirm that the following statement(s) are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."; Wherefore they agree that to the best of their knowledge and abilities affirm that the statement of facts inscribed on the affidavit are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. (2) All petitions and motions issued to the court by any party shall be considered an affidavit and a statement of fact. (3) Any party whosoever: (A) has taken oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person in any case in which a law of The Republic of The Kingdom of Loquntia authorises an oath to be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed, is true, wilfully and contrary to such oath states or subscribes any material matter which he does not believe to be true; or (B) in any declaration, certificate, verification, or statement wilfully subscribes as true any material matter which he does not believe to be true is guilty of perjury and shall, except as otherwise expressly provided by law, be fined under this title in a fair amount or imprisoned for a period not exceeding five years, or both. This subsection is applicable whether the statement or subscription is made within or without The Republic of The Kingdom of Loquntia. (4) All motions, documents, testimonies, evidence and statements are inadmissible if: (A) The question asked in order to attain an answer is vague, misleading, unintelligible, or confusing to the person asking; (B) The statement being delivered is instructing the jury on the content of the law; © The question asked in order to attain an answer does not constitute a question in that it is declarative; (D) The question asked in order to attain an answer has been asked and has been answered on the record; (E) The statement asks the jury to prejudge evidence presented before them; (F) The statement assumes facts that are not evident and / or do not exist within the scope of the court; (G) The question being asked does not give one testifying an opportunity to answer or antagonises one testifying in order to receive an answer; (H) The evidence being presented is not of the highest quality which was knowingly available; (I) The question being asked asks one testifying to make a conclusion rather than state facts; (J) The question being asked asks one testifying to guess an answer rather than state facts; (K) The statement is not a statement of facts, it is a statement of a statement, or hearsay; (L) The person giving a statement is incompetent, or does not have the knowledge or authority to state and answer; (M) The person giving a statement is in a romantic relationship with the other party in court; (N) The statement misquotes a witness, misstates evidence, or does not properly characterise evidence; or (O) The evidence being presented is shown only in part, and is not presented with sufficient context for its meaning. (5) All evidence is inadmissable if: (A) The evidence can make no testimony to its authenticity; or (B) The evidence has been obtained unconstitutionally or the investigative methods leading to its discovery were illegal. SECT. 5. MOTIONS. (1) OBJECTION. A party may motion for an objection if inadmissable evidence has been presented before the court, and the court may deny the evidence from the record if it is inadmissable or, if one testifying is relating a story which is irrelevent to the question asked, or they are non-responsive or continue to speak on irrelevent matters. (2) MOTION TO STRIKE. A party may file a motion for a statement or evidence to be removed from the record if: (A) The statement or evidence is inadmissable; or (B) The statement or evidence is an act of perjury and the person admitting it to the court wishes to recant their statement. (3) MOTION TO DEFAULT. A plaintiff or counsel may file a motion for the case to be defaulted, or the Sovereign may order it, in which the defendant does not wilfully avail themselves of legal defence or has been forcibly removed from the courtroom, after which the court may continue the case without their defence. (4) MOTION TO REQUEST JURY. A defendant may file a motion for a jury, after which the court will order jurors to be present in the court for the duration of their necessity. (5) PLEADING. A defendant may wish to plea guilty, on the grounds that the court will take mercy on them for that fact. (6) MOTION FOR DISMISSAL. Any party may file a motion to have a case dismissed on the grounds that the case be unnecessary. (7) OTHER MOTIONS. A party in a court may move for any other action as long as it is relevant to the case and the court. SECT. 6. NOTARY. (1) The signature of His Majesty, the Sovereign as it is inscribed on a document as notarisation, affirms as legal evidence one's wilfulness to sign the document. (2) The Sovereign shall only notarise a document after he has witnessed the party sign the document or indicate by their allegiance that they wish to agree to it. (3) All documents notarised by the Court of His Majesty, The Sovereign are legal admissable statements of fact, as are the signatures or communications of intent to agree to them. SECT. 7. JUDGMENTS. (1) The judgments of the court shall consist of: (A) Writs of Mandamus issuing a command, and breach thereof shall be Contempt of Court; (B) Writs of Legislation which shall enact a legislation; © Writs of Certiorari issuing a command, which shall require another court jurisdiction to surrender all records on behalf of a case; (D) Writs Patent which are not in their nature specified, but in their capacity the full faith of all other writs; and (E) Writs Close which shall be writs filed under seal. (2) Judgments issued by the court shall be considered SECT. 8. COURTROOM PROCEDURE. (1) All persons, when they shall speak or make a motion known unto the court and its recrd shall, before doing so, swear that (A) By Allah; (B) Under threat of perjury; or © So help them, God; that they swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth before the court. (2) The court shall decide which party shall be speaking at any one time. (3) If a party argues with the court or argues with another party, the court may have them forcibly removed and they may not defend themselves. THIS IS THE END OF THIS DECREE. GIVEN, Under my Hand and the Seal of His Majesty, our Fount of Honour, King of Loquntia, Prince of Norling, and Sovereign of this State on this twenty-fifth Day of December, the Year of Our Grace XVI, whilst the Year of Our Lord MMXIV. IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I, His Majesty’s Honourable Prime Minister bear Witness to this Action with my Signature.